Anyone know much about encased postage stamps?

Encased postage are neat pieces of history and although I don't collect these I bought an Ayers Carhartic Pills of Massachucetts some years ago as a go along with my Civil War token collection. These were made with either advertising on them or plain. The novelty of it being a coin stamp and a token makes these pieces interesting. The denominations with the higher stamp values are scarcer. They were produced with stamp values from one to ninety cents. The one and two cent stamps being commoner. The mica condition and brightness of the stamp and an a original uncleaned case are considerations when buying. Some cases had a light plating of tin applied to the case which resembled silver. This thin plating wore off very easily in circulation and any cases with partial or full silvering carry a premium. The window that covered the stamp being a very thin sliver of mica that might be found today in such conditions as crazed clouded cracked or sometimes missing entirely. Like coins the better the state of preservation for case and mica the more the value. Pricing these is not as easy as pricing coins. I am not up to date on the values of an average piece but the price does not seem to be outrageous. From your discription the piece sounds good. The photo is kinda small to make a real good judgement but it does appear to be nice.

Edited to say Duuuuh... I just realized I could blow up the image and it does look pretty good. The mica looks clear case looks unpolished. Interesting dark stamp.

Cool stuff. Wish I knew more about them.

Tom

Nice information there Gemini. An enjoyable read .....

Paul

Current Scott catalog value is $350 for the regular frame (not ribbed). Usually at regular stamp auctions this would bring in the $250-300 range plus commission. It looks like a nice example, but not a spectacular one that would bring that amount.

Lou

Found this on a local shop's bid board for $150, Still had the Stack's insert and I found that it sold for $300
a few months earlier. Guy had some financial problems.

There are a great many well made fakes out there in the world of encased postage stamps. Buyer beware. I would not buy anything in
this field without extensive study beforehand. Bank Note Reporter had an interesting article about the fakes and how to spot them not long ago. Many people are fooled by them. Replacing the original mica and case and trying to make them look old is the centerpoint of the funny business going on here.